AMD sees slight increase in market share

AMD grew its share in the fourth quarter of 2007 by 0.3 per cent over the third quarter

AMD's struggles have dominated recent headlines, but the company actually managed to turn around its fortunes slightly in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to market analysts.

ISuppli reported that, in the global microprocessor market consisting of X86, Risc and other types of general-purpose device, AMD grew its share in the fourth quarter of 2007 by 0.3 per cent over the third quarter.

Intel, meanwhile, increased its revenue by 0.2 per cent sequentially. However, when comparing the Q4 2007 results to the same period in 2006, Intel grew its share of the microprocessor market by 3.1 per cent. In contrast, AMD lost 1.5 per cent.

"With strong PC demand in the fourth quarter, particularly in the notebook segment, microprocessor average selling prices for AMD and Intel held firm," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli.

"Global unit shipments of PCs in the fourth quarter rose by 14.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2006. This strong demand, along with increased sales of higher-end microprocessors, helped to sustain prices."

ISuppli estimated that AMD and Intel accounted for 93 per cent of overall microprocessor revenues in the fourth quarter of 2007, up 1.6 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2006.